Bishopric of Lebus
The Bishopric of Lebus was a Roman Catholic diocese based originally in Lebus in eastern Brandenburg, Germany. It existed from 1133 until 1598, although the last Catholic bishop had died in 1555. Founding of the Bishopric The area between the rivers Elbe and Oder had long been inhabited by Slavs since the end of the Great Migrations in loose tribal confederacies. The Slavs had resisted both German and Polish attempts at expansion but by the end of the 9th Century the Slavs began to be slowly defeated. In 968, two years after his conversion of Christianity, Duke Mieszko I of Poland founded a Bishopric in Poznań to convert the inhabitants of the region but it was destroyed in a great uprising in 983. The founding of the Bishopric of Gniezno in 1000 was also a failure. It was not until Duke Boleslaus III Wrymouth of Poland (1106 - 1146) in constants wars with Bohemia, Pomerania, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V that the territory was consolidated. In anticipation of further expansion to the north and west, and to Christianise the region, he founded a diocese at Lebus suffragan to the Archbishop of Gniezno in 1133. His expansionistic ambitions were checked by the Emperor Lothar III and another bishopric was founded at Wolin (later at Cammin), leaving Lebus as considerably the smallest diocese in Poland. The Polish Bishopric (1133 - 1253) The early history of the bishopric is not well known as records from the era were later destroyed with castle and bishop's residence in Lebus. The bishops, however, appear to have served as mediators and envoys, participated at various synods, and encouraging economic activity in the region. Upon the partition of the Polish realm between the sons Boleslaus III in 1138, Lebus came under the jurisdiction of the Silesian branch. The Silesian Piasts encouraged settlement by Germans. The colonists brought with them new farming techniques and trade skills and the Bishopric prospered. Duke Henry II sought to increase the influence of the Archbishops of Magdeburg in the territory, and in 1249 Duke Boleslaus II of Silesia-Liegnitz sold half of the territorial rights of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. In 1253 he sold the other half to the Ascanian Brandenburg. The sale greatly upset the Dukes of Silesia-Breslau. The German Bishopric (1249 - 1598) The Bishops of Lebus resisted attempts to place the diocese as suffragan to Magdeburg on a matter of principle despite a vast majority of the diocese now being German. The bishops quickly fell out with the Margraves of Brandenburg and in 1276 they relocated to Göritz, then a possession of theirs. After the extinction of the Ascanians in 1320, King Wladislaw I attempted to regain the Bishopric with probable support from the Bishop Stephen II. In the ensuing raid the country was greatly devastated. The Wittelsbachs counter-attacked in 1327. In retaliation the razed Göritz to the ground and Bishop Stephen II fled to Wrocław. The entire country was then annexed to Brandenburg. In 1354 Bishop-elect Henry II of Batsch reached an agreement with Margrave Louis II on the restoration of the episcopate and the country, and he returned the seat of the diocese to Lebus. In 1373 the city was, however, thoroughly destroyed in the wars of the Emperor Charles IV. Thereafter the seat of the Bishopric was in Fürstenwalde from 1385. In 1424 the Margraves of Brandenburg achieved the long-standing goal of transferring the diocese from the Archbishopric of Gniezno to that of Magdeburg. In 1555 the Brandenburg Elector Joachim II Hector spread the Reformation to Lebus and secularised the diocese. In 1598 the Bishopric itself was dissolved by the Elector Joachim III Frederick. See Also: *List of Bishops of Lebus Category:Estates of the Holy Roman Empire Lebus Category:Imperial Circles